Given the fact that the central concern of this study is to seek to understand not so much the nature, but the impact, both pastoral and missiological, of a cash based ilobolo on contemporary Zulu community, I shall seek to find out how modern isiZulu speakers make sense of a world in which ilobolo plays such a pivotal role in people's lives. My focus is not on that society generally but on Zulu believers in an urban environment. Unlike the more commonly used quantitative approach which, in the words of Stake (1995:35), "nullifies context in order to find the most general and pervasive explanatory relationships,"
qualitative methodology, also referred to as ethnomethodology, phenomenological, holistic, naturalistic, biographical research takes on board
"a wide sweep of contexts: temporal, spatial, historical, political, economic,
cultural, social and personal (: 43)". It recognises that social research is first and foremost a social enterprise (Sjoberg et al. 1991:31).
Social scientists have, in the last thirty years, since observed that social norms and practices are in a constant state of flux and lie beyond the narrow confines of quantitative approach with its emphasis on massive statistics to test propositions. By contrast, the qualitative method, with its bias towards looking at phenomena through the perspective of the people being researched, is by far the better choice. Its intent is to examine the reasons for the existence of social practices, how they are produced and reproduced (Sharrock and Anderson
1986:113).
At the turn of the twentieth century anthropologists such as Bronislaw Malinowski, Margaret Mead, Evans-Pritchard and Emtree introduced ethnography as a means of studying small communities in pre-industrial societies. In the cause of time, an increasing number of anthropologists and sociologists recognised the need to come close to the subjects they were investigating. Thus this new research design took centre stage in sociological debates in the late 1960's. Until then, functionalist and positivist sociologists such as Talcott Parsons believed that their social theory was capable of being objective and scientific. By contrast, ethnomethodologists such as Alfred Schutz, Aron Gurwitsch and others53 argued differently and saw other possibilities.
53 Harvey Sacks (1965) who promoted and developed the idea of analysing ordinary conversation as a tool to understanding society; Aaron Cicourel (1964) critiqued conventional sociological methods which he saw as carrying out "measurement by fiat"; Kenneth Letter (1980) was concerned to link research and texts.
Building on the foundations laid down by his mentor Husserl, Schutz applied his phenomenology to the social sciences showing particularly how members of a society construct social reality (Leiter 1980:4). He maintained that they do so by making use of the stock of knowledge. This knowledge is socially derived and expressed in a language medium embedded in culture. Thirdly, they practice common sense reasoning. However, the foremost writer who laid the foundations of, and popularised modern ethnomethodology twenty years earlier was Harold Garfinkel. He argued that a study of everyday common sense knowledge or experience would assist sociologists to understand social interaction. That common sense knowledge is a fruitful starting point if we are to understand our world. However, as Sharrock and Anderson (1986:10) point out, the appeal to common sense knowledge does not imply a debunking of objectivity and replacing it with subjective experience. Rather, it is to show that objectivity originates in experience. Leiter (1968:20) advances four reasons why ethnomethodology places emphasis on studying common sense knowledge:
** First, the sociological version of the problem of social order depends on commonsense knowledge for its solution. Second, the everyday practice of sociological research rests on the use of commonsense knowledge. Third, social forces that influence social conduct are ultimately rooted in people's use of commonsense knowledge as a way of studying macro phenomena where it really counts - the level of everyday life".
In the use of common sense knowledge, members of a given society make use of everyday expressions whose meanings are not universal but are dependent upon context (Bailey 1978:249). Their meanings, Bar-Hillel (1954:363) maintained, are understood only through reference to the pragmatic context in which they are used, hence he coined the name indexical expressions to refer to them. Ilobolo fits into that category for Africans. Expressions used to describe
the lobol-ing process are embedded in culture and their specific cultural context gives them meaning. Exampies are the isikhwehlela beast. Literally and in ordinary common usage, isikhwehlela is human sputum, the yellow and jelly- like kind that is expectorated after clearing one's throat. Within the context of lobol-'mg, and according to Prof. Zungu54 isikhwehlela euphemistically refers to the sperm that the bride's father contributed during the conception of his daughter who is now about to get married. So the isikhwehlela beast is a special thank you gift to the father for his part in the reproductive process. Likewise, Zungu continues, ubikibiki is an onomatopoeic expression which refers to the white of an egg, hence the female reproductive elements.
Though contexts enhance the meanings of indexical expressions, ethnomethodologists acknowledge that meanings are not bound by contexts because they do change in time, therefore meaning is not enslaved to them. To quote Leiter (1968:112), " the context should not be treated as a set of meta rules governing meaning." Thus a possibility exists that the cultural practices such as ukulobola may be understood and analysed by an outsider looking inward into the practice. However, that takes place best at the level of face to face interaction.
I set out to personally interview my informants in the relaxed atmosphere of their own homes. Where this was not possible, interviews were conducted in 'safe' areas that were conducive to open discussions. Haralambos & Holborn (1995:848) point out that qualitative methodology uses a multiplicity of research tools such as case studies, life histories, structured and unstructured interviews, observation and participant observation. How such a method works,
54 Prof. Zungu • An unpublished paper read at a seminar organised by die Institute of Constructive
is described by Lofland & Lofland, (1984:12) who maintain that ethnomethodology works as;
" A guided conversation whose goal is to elicit from the interviewee rich, detailed materials that can be used in qualitative analysis... The intensive interview seeks to discover the informant's experience of a particular topic or situation."
4.2.1 Use of case studies as a tool for social measurement.
In qualitative research, case study or case history plays a crucial role in data collecting procedures. In more recent times, a case has been defined by Orum et al (1991:2, see also Stake (1995: xi) as " an in-depth, multifaceted investigation, using qualitative research methods, of a single social phenomenon." Since a single phenomenon is what is under investigation in this study, the data collecting procedure should allow the researcher to go into greater depths in investigating the complexities, and pressures both to retain and to modify or totally do away with what some see as a social anachronism. Such a process would not have been as easy if the quantitative method, with its emphasis on statistical data were to be used
Commenting the case study method, Orum ( et al, 1991:9) point out that,
" It can permit the research to examine not only the complex life in which people are implicated but also the impact on beliefs and decisions of the complex web of social interaction." (Italics added).
Similarly, and in the words of Stake, "the researcher is enabled to see a social action holistically, understanding the complex interrelationships among all that exists" (Stake 1995:37).
Not only is case study contextual but it is unobtrusive, it discourages the researcher from imposing his/her agenda on the subjects. By contrast, and again to quote Stake (1995:44), the researchers will " try to see what would have happened had they not been there."
4.2.2 The limitations of the method.
Even the most ardent proponents of the qualitative method are aware of its limitations. Cicourel, cited in Bryman (1988:144) asks whether in an interview process researchers "capture the daily life, conditions, opinions, values, attitudes, and knowledge base of those we study as expressed in their natural habitat." Critics of ethnomethodology have also pointed out that, over time, respondents may alter their views. It has also been pointed out that the interviewer could also inadvertently influence the interviewee into giving certain responses. On this issue, Lofland and Lofland (1984:16) agree with Fred Davis (1973:336,338) that there exists a possible error in the collection of data that could arise due to the particular relationship that the investigator has with the particular setting. Lofland and Lofland write:
" The point for the prospective investigator assessing for access is simply this: If you are already (or will become) a member of the setting, you almost "naturally" possess (or will possess) the convert stance. You have easy access to understanding. You need, therefore, to seek mechanisms for distancing. Conversely, if you are an outsider to the setting, a stranger to the social life under investigation, your access to questioning will be equally natural.
You need, then, to seek mechanisms for reducing that distance."
Consequently, in doing the field study I selected some persons who were well known to me, and to use Fred Davis' (1973) terminology, I was able to adopt a
"convert's" stance. In cases where I did not know the persons, I initially spent some time introducing myself and the purpose of my research. My informants were articulate individuals spanning a range of educational and economic levels. They consisted of six Zulu women, the youngest was single, a university graduate in the social sciences and a freelance research assistant; the second was engaged to be married and she works as a receptionist for a Christian organisation. The third, is a gender officer and field worker and the fourth, another receptionist. In addition to the four above, I also interviewed two women training to be Christian workers. The same selection procedures were applied in the selection of four male respondents. It was comparatively easy to probe a little deeper, seek more clarification while interviewing persons known to me rather than be regarded as an outsider and have to first seek acceptance.
The other problem that I had to contend with had to do with the genuiness of the responses, or lack of it. That problem is not peculiar to ethnomethodology, nearly all forms of social research are susceptible to the Hawthone effect, which posits the view that there are far too many variables that affect the results of field experiment especially when the subjects are aware that they are being studied. To minimise this particular problem, I made informants aware that I was conducting research on ilobolo and that their input would be treated with sensitivity and their identities would be kept confidential if they so wished. All ten interviewees gave me permission to quote them by name thus indicating that what they shared were, in all probability, authentic responses.
Of the four men whom I interviewed, one was a recent theology graduate and was about to get married. The other was married pastor in a mainline Protestant church and a former deputy principal who was working, at that time, as a part- time lecturer at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg. These two were also well known to me and therefore least likely to hold back crucial information.
The other two were students training for the ministry. In order to further facilitate openness, I gave each of my informants a bilingual interview guide, (see Appendix C below) and asked them to study it, and I spent forty five minutes to an hour with each as they wrote down their answers or gave oral responses.